Terminology... Basic Fundamentals

This is article #17 in a series covering the origins of football’s terminology. All are available under the Terminology tab above. My book, Hut! Hut! Hike! describes the emergence of more than 400 football terms.

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Before colleges had intramural programs, they often had class football teams with rosters filled by class members who were not varsity players. Class teams typically played one another, with some playing outside competition. The latter was the case when the University of Washington’s junior class scheduled a game with the Tacoma Athletic Club in 1915. The Washington boys must have been serious about their team since the Tacoma Times indicated that:

Class teams sometimes had coordinated uniforms. This unidentified Class of1910 team looked pretty sweet in their matching jerseys. (Personal collection)

The juniors are being coached by “Conny” MacLean, former crack end of the University of Minnesota and Yale university (sic) elevens, and though with only two weeks practice behind them, the juniors have been well educated in all the intricacies and basic fundamentals of the famous Minnesota shift and the Yale forward pass.